The entire supply of marijuana for research in the United States is grown by the NIDA in Mississippi.

​One federal agency controls all the marijuana research done in the United States. And that agency has just admitted that it won't fund research into the benefits of marijuana -- only the supposed "negative consequences."

A spokesperson for the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) told the New York Times last week that the agency "does not fund research focused on the potential medical benefits of marijuana."

"As the National Institute on Drug Abuse, our focus is primarily on the negative consequences of marijuana use," NIDA spokeswoman Shirley Simson told the Times.

Photo: NIDA Marijuana Project

The government's marijuana farm at The University of Mississippi. No medical research will be funded.

​Under federal law, the agency must approve all clinical research involving cannabis. NIDA tightly controls which investigators are allowed access to the federal government's one supply of marijuana for research, which is grown and stored at the University of Mississippi.

NIDA exercises a near-stranglehold on the research of illegal drugs, overseeing an estimated 85 percent of the world's research on controlled substances.

"NIDA has finally admitted to the world the 'Catch-22' that has been plaguing medical marijuana advocates and patients," said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano.

Photo: NIDA Marijuana Project

Rolled joints are distributed to marijuana researchers -- but only if they are looking for negative effects, not medical benefits.

​"Lawmakers demand clinical research regarding the safety and efficacy of medical cannabis, but the agency in charge of such research denies that these studies are even taking place," Armentano said.

"It's tragic that these public officials have let political ideology, not science, determine America's health decisions," he said.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner ruled in 2007 that NIDA's monopolization of marijuana research is not "in the public interest" and ordered the federal government to allow private manufacturers to produce cannabis for research purposes.